‘We have bigger goals’: South Pointe, Indian Land, Fort Mill clinch respective regions
Mere minutes after he walked off the wrestling mat in York Comprehensive High School’s auxiliary gym, South Pointe wrestling head coach Eddie Cook was asked about his team’s future.
Before answering, he looked around and saw the scene that proceeded his program’s sixth straight region title: To his right, about 20 feet away from him, his wrestlers were standing in front of a slew of iPhones and cameras, and they were waiting on Cook to join them for a team picture.
To his left, on the gym’s opposite wall, the scoreboard that decided the region’s victor this season was still lit up. It read 60-18, in South Pointe’s favor.
This was his team’s present.
But his team’s future? That would begin sooner than it sounds.
“You want to enjoy every win, and you want to celebrate it, but at the same time, we got to turn around and get these guys ready for individual region championships on Saturday...” Cook told The Herald post his team’s final regular season match of the dual-teams season on Wednesday night. “We gotta get right back to work tomorrow.
“Heck, we may have to get to work tonight because some of them got to cut weight.”
Cook’s mentality of taking the region win in stride isn’t unique to him. The head coaches from Indian Land and Fort Mill — who each clinched their respective regions on Tuesday — each tried to convey a similar message to their teams: We still have work to do.
Here’s what you need to know.
South Pointe defeats York to earn region title
The Stallions earned a No. 1 spot in the 4A state playoffs on Wednesday after knocking off the Cougars.
After York’s Kaleem Heard won the match-opening bout (126-pounds) — it was all South Pointe. The Stallions would take 11 of the next 13 matches: one a Cougar forfeit, the rest South Pointe pins.
The Stallions’ 220-pound competitor, Davon Adams, was one of those pins. It was his first match as a varsity wrestler, Coach Cook said — and Adams fought his opponent to the mat late in his match’s final period. Cook said he was proud of him.
After the residing official slapped the mat and declared the pin, Adams subtly pumped his fists. The freshman wrestler, who’d fought his way from second and third string all season, was proud of himself, too.
“I tell these guys at the beginning of the year: We don’t have a varsity and a JV,” Cook said. “We don’t have backups. Everybody is part of this program, and someday, your number is going to be called, and we’re going to need you to step in and fill that position like a varsity wrestler.
“And tonight, he did it.”
Fort Mill emerges victorious from tough region
The Fort Mill wrestling team wrapped up the Region 3-5A title with a 51-18 win over its rival, Nation Ford, on Tuesday.
Fort Mill finished a perfect 4-0 in the region and will be the No. 1 seed in the state playoffs, guaranteeing the team home matches for the first two rounds of the playoffs. The team’s opponents for the playoffs aren’t known yet, but they’ll likely be out of the Greenville County area, as they will face a No. 5 seed out of Region 2.
There are three spots slotted for Region 3 for the playoffs with Rock Hill and Clover taking those other two spots. Rock Hill beat both Clover and Northwestern to finish 3-1 and Clover finished third at 2-2 in the region. They will also face the No. 2 and No. 3 seed out of Region 2, respectively, to open the playoffs.
Northwestern finished the region with just one win and could apply for an at-large bid for the playoffs. Nation Ford was eliminated with the loss to Fort Mill.
“I appreciate the win and sealing the region title,” said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock. “But we have bigger goals and bigger things down the road.”
The match between Fort Mill (19-5) and Nation Ford (4-6) was more of a 10-match dual than a 14-match dual with the Falcons having to forfeit four weight classes. And despite Nation Ford giving Fort Mill 24-points, the match was close early on.
“It was a 10-match dual and those toss up matches, they won most of them,” Brock said. “I think our guys looked at this as a social event and it was a fight.”
Fort Mill got a win in the opening weight class at 220-pounds with a forfeit to go up 6-0. The first match of the night saw the Falcons’ Sean Grennan edge Fort Mill’s Reese Key 1-0 at heavyweight. Another forfeit at 106-pounds, gave Fort Mill a 12-3 lead, however, Nation Ford would win the next three matches to take the lead. Wins by Solomon Moore (113), Trevor Strain (120) and Reed Spilmann (126) gave Nation Ford a 15-12 lead.
The Jackets got the lead back at 132-pounds with a pin fall from Joshua Sturgeon and then got a pin from Salvatore Conforto at 138-pounds to go up 24-15. Fort Mill would lead from that point forward. Nation Ford picked up one more win as Steven Johnson bear George Mandon 7-5 at 145-pounds. Fort Mill had three more wins in the dual with Brian Kelley winning 9-2 at 152-pounds, Josh Cizmadia winning at 160-pounds and Aubrey Schaffer winning at 170-pounds, the last two by pin fall. Nation Ford forfeited the last two weight classes at 182 and 195-pounds.
“We got some young guys that battled,” said Nation Ford head coach Tony Forte. “We have three first year wresters in the line up and they are going against some of the best kids in the state. They battled. This was all we could ask for. It is going to be a process. They fought hard. Our focus right now is the Upper State (individual tournament) and getting people to Anderson (for the state tournament).”
Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM
Indian Land looks to reign as state champions
For a fourth consecutive season, the Indian Land wrestling team was crowned as the Region 4-3A champion after notching a pair of wins over Chester (47-24) and Fairfield (78-6) on Tuesday.
On Feb. 8, the No. 1-seeded Warriors will compete at home for their first and second rounds of the 3A state playoffs — the same position they were in last year en route to a state championship.
“Even though we won last year, we feel like we have a lot to prove,” Indian Land head coach Leon Boulware told The Herald in a phone interview on Wednesday morning. When asked why he feels that way, he added that it’s “a lot harder to win (a championship) the second time.”
But to the Warriors’ credit, they’ve done a lot to prove how good they are this season. Their head coach, who reached win No. 200 earlier this year, cited several times this season in which the Warriors have “upset” traditionally-good programs. The Warriors have defeated Fort Mill, Rock Hill and South Pointe in separate dual matches.
“I’ve been blessed with kids that trust the process,” Boulware said.
The Region 3-5A individual tournament will take place on Friday at Fort Mill High School, and the 4-3A individual tourney will be on Friday at Chester High School.
The 3-4A individual tournament will be held on Saturday at South Pointe.
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